Anti‐Providentialism as Blasphemy in Late Stuart England: A Case Study of “the Stage Debate”*

Abstract

This article develops a cultural history of blasphemy as representation by exploring the nexus between conceptions and perceived manifestations of blasphemy in a theological context. Specifically it uses a case study of “the stage debate”, a controversy about the viability of the theatre in England at the turn of the eighteenth century, to argue that contemporary perceptions of anti‐providentialism informed a sense of practical blasphemy that was commensurate with the Thomistic conception of blasphemy as aggravated unbelief. This interpretation illuminates the theological sensitivity of contemporary godly critics to perceived instances of anti‐providentialism and their belief in the actual diabolism of the theatre.